The subject matter herein relates generally to cable interconnect systems, and more particularly, to cassettes that have an array of jacks for interlacing with modular plugs.
Known connector assemblies exist having multiple receptacle connectors in a common housing, which provide a compact arrangement of such receptacle connectors. Such, a connector assembly is useful to provide multiple connection ports. Accordingly, such a connector assembly is referred to as a multiple port connector assembly. The receptacle connectors may be in the form of RJ-45 type modular jacks that establish mating connections with corresponding RJ-45 modular plugs. The receptacle connectors, each have electrical terminals arranged in a terminal array, and have plug receiving cavities.
One application for such multi-port connector assemblies is in the field of electronic networks, where desktops or other equipment are interconnected to servers or other network components by way of sophisticated cabling. Such networks may have a variety of data transmission mediums including coaxial cable, fiber optic cable and copper cable. One such network is an Ethernet network, which is subject to various electrical standards, such as IEEE 802.3 and others. Such networks have the requirement to provide a high number of connections, yet optimally requires little space in which to accommodate the connections. Another application for such connector assemblies is in the field of telephony, wherein the connector ports allow for connection with a telephone switching network of a telephone service provider, such as a regional telephone company or national telephone company.
One type of connector assembly is known as a stacked jack connector assembly, where the housing has receptacles one above the other, forming a plurality of arrays in stacked arrangement, so-called “stocked jack” arrangements. One example of a stacked jack type of connector assembly is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,655,988, assigned to Tyco Electronics Corporation, which discloses an insulative housing having two rows of receptacles that provide an interface port for modular plugs. The receptacles are arranged side-by-side in an upper row and side-by-side in a lower row in a common housing, which advantageously doubles the number of receptacles without having to increase the length of the housing. Contact modules having contacts for both upper receptacles and lower receptacles are loaded into the insulative housing. The insulative housing and each of the contact modules are simultaneously mounted to a circuit board, and an outer shield surrounds the unit. The stacked jack connector assembly may then be mounted to a corresponding network component, such as a panel. Stacked jacks have the advantage of coupling a plurality of receptacles within a network at the same time. However, stacked jacks are typically complex to manufacture, as the stacked jacks require many special features within the insulated housing. Additionally, due to the required geometry, the receptacles within the upper row have contacts that are longer than the contacts of the receptacles in the lower row, which changes electrical characteristics of the receptacles. For example, since the receptacles in the upper row, are farther away from the circuit board than the receptacles in the lower row, the contact of the upper receptacles have a longer contact length between a mating interface of the contacts and the circuit board, which may cause signal degradation.
Another type of connector assembly includes a plurality of individual modular jacks that are mounted within a housing to forth an interface connector. Each modular jack includes a jack housing defining a plug cavity and a plurality of contacts within the plug cavity. The modular jack is terminated to a cable and separately coupled to the housing. The interface connector, including a number of the modular jacks, is mounted to a corresponding network component, such as a panel. While interface connectors have the advantage of coupling a plurality of modular jacks within a network component at the same time, the interface connectors have the problem of having reduced density. The density problem arises from each modular jack having a separate jack housing, which, may be bulky, and which have a latch, typically on top of the modular jack, that latches to a latching surface on the connector assembly housing. Furthermore, additional space is required to accommodate pivoting the modular jack during loading and unloading each jack into the connector assembly housing. Interface connectors also suffer from problems associated with cable density and cable management. As such, interface connectors are not typically arranged in a stacked configuration.
At least one of the problems with known connector assemblies is that today's networks require higher numbers of connections in limited spaces to accommodate increasingly complex networks.